The most decorated BSc Forestry graduates for a generation?
This July saw witnessed some of the best degree results for a generation from the BSc Forestry degrees at . We celebrate the achievements of all our students, regardless of their degree class, here we highlight two graduates who deserved special mention.
A true Tree Spark
Jemima Letts BSc Forestry is an inspiration to us all. She faced during her studies, yet coped with these admirably, refusing to give up when many others would have accepted defeat. At graduation, Jemima was awarded the Mary Sutherland prize. This award is made every year to the best female forestry graduate, in honour of , who was the first woman in the world to graduate with a BSc Forestry degree, which she gained from 黑料不打烊 in 1916.
On top of achieving a , Jemima set up and continues to run a very successful social enterprise . Amongst her many other achievements, she was also a keynote speaker at the , held at the University of Oxford in April 2019.
Jemima won two awards at the 黑料不打烊 Employability Celebration - enterprising student of the year and Employability Excellence. Amongst a raft of other awards won during her final year, perhaps the most notable was that she was shortlisted as one of four nominees for the .
During her studies, Jemima was a fantastic peer guide and helped out at events across the university, including open days, at the Treborth Botanic Garden, as well as attending various national and international events. Jemima is currently on a 12 month placement at the Chatstworth Estate, working under the supervision and guidance of fellow 黑料不打烊 Forestry alumnus, John Everitt (BSc Forestry, 2006).
Three graduation awards and a top job for 1st class Forestry graduate
John Trimble, from Northern Ireland, graduated in 2019 with a first class BSc Forestry degree. For his dissertation, John liaised with staff from and worked alongside researchers from to reveal new insights about a high profile, long-term forestry experiment in . John was able to answer questions relating to the success of planting different species of tree seedling in forests that are managed using an approach known as 鈥榗ontinuous cover forestry鈥�. John submitted a very high quality dissertation and was awarded the 鈥樅诹喜淮蜢� Bursary鈥� 鈥� an award presented by the North Wales Division of the for the best final year forestry dissertation project. John was also awarded the 鈥榤ost improved student鈥� award by the , as a result of his average grade increasing from 72% in year 2 to over 80% in his final year. Adding to these two prestigious awards, John was also presented with the School of Natural Sciences 鈥楤est Dissertation鈥� prize, in recognition of the highest overall mark awarded across the schools鈥� over 250 graduates. On the back of these successes, John was highly sought after by high profile employers, receiving two job offers within the space of a few days in April 2019, three months before graduation. He started work as a Silviculturist Research Forester with Forest Research in Alice Holt, Farnham, in September 2019.
Commenting on these successes, James Walmsley, course director for BSc Forestry, said 鈥渢here is currently great concern about the global climate emergency and so how we manage our trees and forests is hugely important. We鈥檝e been teaching forestry at 黑料不打烊 since 1904, since when many generations of 黑料不打烊 Foresters have made enormous contributions to the conservation, protection, expansion and sustainable management of the world鈥檚 forests. These young 黑料不打烊 foresters, and indeed all those who obtained their forestry degrees this year, epitomise the current 黑料不打烊 campaign of 鈥樷�� and give us optimism and hope for the future.鈥�
Publication date: 31 October 2019